Clothes-line.



Nn. '667,453. Patented Feb. 5,1901.

S. N. PARKER.

CLDTHES LINE.

. (Application led May 9, 1.900.) (N o M o d el.)

Umts Ares Erice.

CLOTH ESLINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 667,453, dated February 5, 1901.

Application filed May 9,1900. Serial No. 16,070. y(No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL N. PARKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lutcher, in the parish of St. James and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Clothes-Line, of which the followingis aspeciication.

The invention relates to improvements in clothes-lines.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of clothes-lines and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient device designed to obviate the necessity of employing clothes-props and adapted to enable clothes to be readily applied to the line at one end of the device without carrying them to dierent points along the line.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a clothes-line constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional View illustrating the construction of the slide or carriage.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in both figures of the drawings.

1 designates an endless clothes line arranged on a pair of pulleys or sheaves 2 and 3 of a post or support 4 and upon a pair of similar sheaves or pulleys 5 and 6 of a slide or carriage 7, which is mounted upon an inclined guide 8. The pulleys or sheaves 2 and 3, which are arranged in vertical alinement, as clearly illustrated in Fig. l of the accompanying drawings, are mounted within suitable frames or casings 7 and 8, which are secured to a block or bracket 9, and the latter is fastened to the post or support, which is braced at the bottom by an inclined bar 9a. The inclined guide S forms a brace for' a post or support 11, and the slide or carriage, which may be constructed of any suitable material, preferably consists of a block 12 and side plates 13. The block is provided with suitable frames or bearings 14 and 15V for the sheaves or pulleys 5 and 6, and the side plates 13, which are located at opposite sides of the inclined guide or brace, extend rearward beyond the same and have rollers 16 mounted between them on transverse pins. The rollers Y are adapted to run on the lower or rear face of the inclined brace and guide 8.

. The clothes are designed to be applied to the lower flight of the endless clothesline by means of ordinary clothes-pins and from one end of the device, the endless clothes-line being moved longitudinally as the clothes are applied to it until it is filled. The slide or carriage is then raised to about the level of the block 9, and in raising the line to such a position the carriage or slide is moved outward and is thereby adapted to stretch the clothes-line to the desired tension. It will thus be seen that the lifting of the carriage stretches the line and the lowering of the carriage slackens the line and facilitates placing the clothes on and removing them from the same.

The raising and loweringof the slide or carriage is effected by means of a windlass consisting of a drum 17, mounted upon a shaft 18, journaled in suitable bearings of plates 19, and provided at one end with a crankhandle 20. A hoisting rope or cable is attached to the drum, and one end of this rope or cable 21 is secured to the top of the slide or carriage, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings. The said hoisting rope or cable also passes over a pulley 22,10- cated at the top of the post 11 and mounted in a suitable casing or housing 23. By rotating the shaft the hoisting rope or cable is wound around or unwound from the drum. The winding of the hoisting rope or cable around the drum elevates the slide or carriage, and the weightof the latter and the clothes operates to lower the slide or carriage as soon as the hoisting rope or cable is slackened. The clothes-line and the hoisting rope or cable may be constructed of any suitable material, and the former may be made of any desired length.

It will be seen that the device is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily operated from one end of it, and that it obviates the necessity of employing clothes-props. It will also be apparent that the clothes may be applied to the line at one end of the device, that it obviates the necessity of carrying a heavy basket of clothes from one end of the line to IOC the other, and that the raising and lowering of the slide or carriage tightens and slackens the line. It will also be apparent that the bracket or block 9 and the inclined guide may be applied to posts or any other suitable supports, such as trees and the like.

The tension on the line holds the antit'riction-rollers against the inner or rear face of the inclined guide and keeps the block or body portion away from the same, so that there is but little friction in raising the slide or carriage. The slide or cariage is locked in an elevated position by a suitable pawl or ratchet, as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings; but any other suitable locking device may be employed. The ratchet-wheel 18 is xed to the shaft 18 and is engaged by a pawl 18", pivotally mounted ou the adjacent plate 19 and located above the ratchet-wheel.

What I claim is- 1. A device of the class described comprising a support, an inclined guide arranged opposite the support, a slide arranged on thel inclined guide and adapted to be raised and lowered, a clothes-line extending from the slide to the support and connected with the latter at the upper portion thereof, and a i hoisting device connected with the slide and extending downward from a point above the same and adapted to'elevate the slide to raise the clothes-line to a horizontal-position,Where- 1 by the clothes-line is simultaneously elevated 1 and stretched, said clothes-line being slackened when the slide is moved downward, substantially as described.

2. A device of the class described comprising a pair of posts or supports 4 and 11, an inclined guide and brace supporting the post 11, a slide or carriage arranged on the inclined guide and brace, a bracket secured to the post or support 4, pulleys mounted on the bracket and on the slide or carriage, a clothesline arranged on the said pulleys, and a windlass having a hoisting rope or cable connected with the slide or carriage, whereby the clothesline may be simultaneously elevated and tightened substantially as described.

3. A device of the class described comprising a support, an inclined guide arranged opposite the support, a slide adapted to be moved upward and downward on the guide and provided with side plates extending in rear of the guide, antifriction-rollers mounted between the side plates and arranged to run on the guide, pulleys mounted in the support and on the slide, an endless clothes-line arranged on the pulleys, and means for raising `and lowering the slide, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL N. PARKER.

Witnesses:

T. L. BoswoRTH, Louis A. PELLERIN. 

